Sectional boiler-furnace.



C. PHELPS. SECTIONAL BOILER FURNACE APPLICATION LED MAN. I5. 1915.

Patented 0t. 9, 1917.

2 SHEETS*SHEET 1 c. PHELPS. SECTIONAL OJLER FURNACE. APPLICATION HLED MAR. 16, 1915. 495,560 Patefld 0% 9,1917.

2 SHEIETSSHSET 2.

nr anion CHARLES PHELPS, OF OSKALOOSA, IOWA.

snorrcaan BOILER-FURNACE.

Application filed March 16, 1915.

T0 ail wlwm z't may concem:

Be it known that I, CHARLES PHEIPS, a

citizen of the United States, and resident of Oskaloosa, in the county of Mahaska and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Sectional Boiler-Ftunace, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of my invention are to provide a section-al boiler farnace in which the sections are made comparatively small and light, so that they may be easily handled and shipped, and also in this connection to provide furnace sections each of which is complete in itself so that no matter how many of these sections are employed in a single furnace,the completed urnace Will at all times retain the same general proportion of essential iurnace elements, that is to say, the proportions betwecn the grate area, the fire area, the air circulating system and the water circulating system Will remain the same and unchanged.

A further object is to provide a f-urnace of this class especially adapted for use in burning soit 01 bituminous coal in such a manner as to obtain a maximum efliciency from the coal and also to consume the black smoke and soot. In this connection it is my object to provide a urnace in Which a relatively large amount of coal may be placed at one time which Will be gradually and slowly burned ofi from the bottom and sides in such a manner that the heat from the burning mass of coal will come in direct contact with a relatively large fire surface so that the maximum efiiciency of the coal Will be utilized, and furthenin this connection it is my object to provide a fornace of this class in which suficient air may freely circulate through the grate and upwardly around the sides of the mass of coal to produce perfect combustion even with a relatively large mass of coalon the grate proper.

A further object is to provide a furnace of this class in which the water circulating system is so arranged as to avoid counter currents or churning within the furnace sections, whereby a constant water level is maintained and dry steam is produced in the super heater device at the top of each section.

A further object isto provide a furnace of this class in which all of the necessary pipe fittings, both :for water and smoke, may first be permanently secured to the rear section and then any required number of sec Speification of Letters Patent.

4 Patented w. a, 1917.

Serial No. 14,664.

tions may beapplied to the rear section and to each other without the necessity of ever 4 changing or moving the rear section 01' the pipe fittin s connected to it, so that the furnace may 3e enlarged or reduced in size at Will very quickly and easily and without expensivelabor, and when s0 altered in size the furnaoe Will be coinplete in itself with the proper amount of ash pit capacity, grate surface, lire surface, air circulating system and water circulating system as required to produce and provide a maximum efiiciency for fuel consumption and a maximum efii iency for heating water and producing dry steam.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the furnace whereby the ohjects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully' set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in Which:

Figure 1 shows a front elevation of a furnaceenibodying my invention, with part of one of the filling plates broken away to show the adjacent furnace section.

Fig. 2 shows an end view of the furnace embodying my invention, with the front removed. In this figure a quantity of fuel is shown, and there are arrows illustrating the paths of the air circulation upwardly around the sides of the fuel and then clownwardly toward the fine openings.

Fig. 3 shows an enlarged, detail, sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 shows an edge view of a number of furnace sections coupled together, showing the inside faces thereof, taken from a vertical line through the center of the furnace.

Fig. 5 shows a rear elevation of my im proved furnace showing the flue pipes and water circulating pipes connectecl therewith.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, it Will be noted that the urnace is composed of independent sections extending transversely across the furnace, and also that each section is formcd of tWo complete hait sections divided along a vertical, central, longitudinal line through the urnace. Each of these half sections is in itself a complete unit, and any hait section of the furnace except the front and back ones, may be readily and 'easily removed and a neW crie substituted.

Each section comprises a hollow body por tion consisting of a top member*l0, an inner np1tigh water chambei Il, an outei npfiglit water cha1nber 12, a series water circulating members 13 extend1ng npwardly and outwardly from the inner water chamber 11 to the outer water chamber 12, and a bottoiu urnace section in an elevated position and to form part of the ash pit* Which is indi- -cated by the numeral i6. Along the onter and top edgesoi each section is a fiatrib 17 projecting beyond the sides ofthe urnace section, and-s0 arranged that these llbS I( ot two ad]accrit bo1ler:sections Wlll engage:each

other and form a closure oirouter&fnrnace avall. 'he innernpright water;clmxnber of' each section istapered at 18, as shoWn in Fig. 3, so that the spaces between twoof these chambers near the -fire boi aregreater than the "Spaces between then1 at a point spaoed apartfrom the firebox, thus providing air circulating chambers l9betweenthe adjacent portionsl8.

En order toprovidefor proper combustion of the fuel in the furnace, I haveprovided on each furnace section a series of diaft guidingwings 20, 21 and 22. These \vings are formedon the side faces of tlie inner np right water chambers 1l, andthe lowerone 20extnds froni a point adjacent to the top of the grate surface upwardly and outwardly and then upwarcll -alongthe outetedge o f the part 11. At-this point there'is formed a draft passgeway- 23 between the xrings 20 and 21, and another draft passageway 24 is provided between the wings 21 and These wings onthe adjacent sections contact witlieach other 'when the sections are placed together, 's0 thatpassageway for the roducts of combustion'is pioVided between the fuel-on the grates and the Wings'20, 21 and 22, so that evenif tliecoinbustion chanaber is C0mpa1atiely full of' Goal, as illnstrated in Figs.2 and 3, the products"o1 combustion may pass'frzely in an upright ditecti0nfrofn a'p0intnear the grate betWeen the body of fuel on the grate 'and'then ings 20, 21 and 22. TheadVntages of' the ope1iingfs 23"and 24Will be set fortn more fully hreiziafter,

Between tlie inclined hollow seCtiox1 13 and the hollow topl0 is a draftopening2 into whichthe products of combustion'1niy pass from the lire box. Froin this poii1tthe produCts Ofco1nbstion niay-'either flow longitudinally of the furnace or they may pass cl0wnwardly between the parts 13 to the circular draftjassageway 26, *at Which point they Will be conducted rearwardly toWard the rear section and the fine attached thereto. Assuming that there is some blackSmoke arisiiig from the coal, and also that along the'sides of thebody of coal there is a flame, then the black sinoke in its passage fr'om the 1nembers 18.

28 is monnted :therein.

passageWay 25 to the fine 26 Will travel doivhwardly .between the l10ll0 section In-- so doing they Wlll' be brought into contact with fia1nes passing throngh'the openings 28 and 24. The ilames Will pass through th ese openings before goingniiardly, because there is a sh0rter passageway throngh these open1ngs and to the fine. hence this black smoke Will lre brou ht into contact w1ththese ets dame passing throngh the said .openings and 24 and the black smoke Will be consnnied. Onthe inner face of each finnace section is a grate Test member 27., and: a grate section 'lhe grate proper forms 3110 part of *my, Present invention, and hencethese grate sections willnotbe specifically :described. 1

( In orderto connect the lnrnace sections togfiethe'r, I hae proi*ided at the top of-; each section a series of lngs 28.. Extended upwardly on the onter,Surfaces OhB-H'RflCG sections pis a seriesbf lugs;29 extendccl;,ont wardly,n1id on the legs? 15 beloxvtl1e hollow SGCiOI1'RI3'hGillgS 30,: and near ,the central portions 0;the furnace sections are .tlie upwa l;dl extending lugs. 31. All of these lngs are :connected together by ineans'ot short bolts e Xtending-only :from one lg' to the other:in ,the manner illustrated at the bottonx cf Fig. l, so .that*any section maybe -removd =by 'first i'enioving -the 'bolts connected toit. 7

t*the 'rear oithe rear Section the air ci1 cnlatin'g openirigszare seziled np by means of the detchableplates 323, and theflue 3 iis connected to these plates in line with .tlie fle openings 26, and 'this fine 34 is conneted*toaflne:riser35.

' The iront section is also provided Vihh plates 36t0 -close theair circulating openings, and it isprovided with'the nsual fuel ddcr 3,-draft dor 38,and ash pit door 39. r 'lhe Water connections ,for the fiiinac9 sections are arrangedz as follows: At the np}f)er 'o1itei' cdrnerof czich section is a water circnlating opening40. rit the lone1y inner coi'ner' of eachsection is a water circulating openingl. sibove the body :of-the fnrnace section atthgdnner corner of eaclnsection, israhollow 1ipright stea1n don1c 42- to communicate with:the interior of the hollow section and pim*ided With steun circnlating openings43.

V -lncomiecting together two side by Side inmace sections, tapered push nipples oi ordinary 'co'nstruction,'not shown, arezpr vided to connecttheSe i*arious water and stea-m circnlatiog openingst0gether so tliat be applied to the completed furnace. a header :l, to connect together the water circulating openings, ;llat the rcar section, and a, coldwater snpply, pipe at5.is connected nzith this bonde atthe. topof the rear sec tion. Tlie Steam circulating openings l3, 21l'e coi 1nected toQether by nieans ol the header pipe 4:6, leading to a riser l7.

fumace are as follows:

By having tl1ef1nnace built np of half sections, as shown, and by having each hall? section provided with a grate snpport1ng Some of, the advantages of my improved member, a surface to contact With the -tire,-

completed :Enrnace provided with a gratte and with upright water columns for1ning the sides of the fire box, and so arranged as to confine the fuel, and also so arranged that dralt may pass up along the sides of the body of fuel and between these hollow boiler sections, a very large quantity of fuel may be placed on the grate within the lire box and this fuel may be burned without producing black smoke on account of these free draft passages up along the sides of the body of fuel.

Another advantage is that by having the sections s0 arranged that the dra1t Wlll pass first upwardly through the fire box and then ontwardly and doWnWardl to the fine, and bv having the parts so arranged that ets ot fiame direct from the lire box 1nay come in contact With the products of combustion just before entering the fine, any volatile gases or smoke will be ignited by said jets of flame and be consumed befo1e entering the fine.

Another advantage is that by ha ving all of the various sections communicate with each other freely so that water may pass from 'one to the other both at the top and botton1, and by having the boiler sections extonded below the grate surface, and by having the parts of the sections that commnnicte between the inner upright column and the onter upright colnmn inclined npwardly and outwardly, I avoid all possibility of creating connter currents and churning of the Water within the boiler sections to thereby maintain a steady Water lino at the top of the boiler sections. The short black arrows in Fig. 2 show the water circulation Within the sections. The greatest amonnt. oiE beat is, of,course, snpplied to the 1nner npr1ght coln1nns, and so the wate1: Wlli use in these coiumns- The cold est place will, of course, be' the onter np right columns, and the water will.- fion downwardly in the outer uprigl;t colnmns. The communicatipg hello w Water chambors are inclined n'pwardly and out ai"dlg becanse the upwardly flow ing cnrrent in the inner uprigl,1t colmnns tends toexpand, and Wlll fiow pwardly and ontwardly i'() the onter uprigl1t columns and then jo in the clownwardly flowing cnrrents therein and descend to the lowest point of the section which is below the grate. That is to,say, the furnace section, sofar as the water cincnlation is concerned, is arranged to condnct the currents of water along the paths they wonld ordinarily take, for instance, in a tank when great heat was applied to the interior thereof. Flowever, by means of the construction of my improved' sections, I avoid all possibility of counter currents and the 'water monos rapidly and freelythronghout these sections, thus giving the furnace a maximum efliciency for croating steam or heating the water. The advantage of a steady water line is that the steam dome may be placed close to the top surface of the water line and may-therefore be cast integral with the furnace section, and. at the same time dry steam may be taken ot' from the steam clome.

A further advantage is that by having each section a complete fnrnace unit, pipe fittings need only be applied to the rear section and after that the assembling of the other sections Can be quickly and easily accomplished by nnskilled worlnnen, thns re- 'snlting in a great saVi1ig of time in the erection or rcpair of the urnace.

I daim as my invention:

1. In a furnace of the class described, the combination of a number of sections formed hollow for water circulation, each being provided with upright hollow Watei" columns to form the sides of the fire box, said columns being so shaped at a point above the grate as to provide for the circulation of gases and air between thcm in an upward direction around the sides of the body of fuel resting on the grate and against the inner edges of said np1ight columns, and draft ribs on the front and rear surfaces 01 the sections near the outer edges of the inner npright colnmns shaped to deflect the gases and products of combustion arising from the fuel chamber npwardly t0 a point near the top o-f the fuel chamber, said draft ribs being provided with small opcnings whereby jets of fiame from the fire may discharge outwardly.

2. In a fnrnace, the combination of a series of furnace sections formed hollow for Water circulation, each furnace section being pro- Vided on its front and rear faces around its outside edge, With a rib t0 coact with the ribs of corresponding sections t0 seal the exterior of the furnace, said furnace sections being a1so provided with innerupright water columns to form the sides of the fire box, and beingalso provided With a hol]ow top section, hollow oute1 upright columns, and. a series of conneoting ho11ou members inc1ined upwardly and outwardly 10nthe inner upright columns to the outer ones, there being near the bottom of each section a draft passageway, the water chambers of the sections being spaced part to permit the circulation of the products of combustion from the fuel chamber outWardly to said outerrim, and the inne1 upright columns being provided on their front and rear faces above the grate lino witb; drzift ribs a1- ranged t0 defieet the gaSes and products o f 2o combustion from the fire box upwardly between the sides of the innerupright columns to a point near the top of the fuel ehamber,

said drat ribs being provided With small openingg whereby jets offiame from the fire 25 may discharge outwardly.

Des Moines, Iowa, February 25, 1915.

Gopies of this patent may be obtaned for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ofPatents.

' Washington, 1). G. 

